411's NFL Round Up 1.22.08: Conference Championship Editiion

Posted by Emmett Wilks on 01.22.2008

The March to Perfection continues for New England, Eli stuns the critics (and yours truly), and why no one has a right to tell LT what to do with his body. All this and more in the Conference Championship edition of the Round Up

Well, that was one helluva of weekend. Conference Championship weekend had enough fire works of a Pops 4th of July celebration. The Patriots march continued with a dull but watchable AFC championship game. And the NFC, well, let's just call that NFL Game of the Year. Be sure to check out Derrick Robbins' fantastic BREAKDOWN of this weekends action. A Happy Martin Luther King day to everyone. When I was a kid, this was just a day off of school. Now, I truly appreciate the great man Dr. King was and hope everyone had a good long weekend.

ADDRESSING THE CROWD

Well I certainly got some people riled up last week. For the record, I do not possess any real loyalty to the Patriots. I, as any football fan right now should, totally respect what they are on the doorstep of accomplishing. In the modern era of football, with free agency, constant player turnover to go along with coaching staffs and front office personnel always shifting, for a professional team to do what the Patriots are doing, it is quite simply unfathomable. I will state right now that I will be rooting for the Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday because I am rooting for history, as I do want to see an undefeated team. And for those who want to keep going back to the Week 17 game and say how well the Giants played them, remember this. So did Philadelphia and Baltimore, two teams who watched the playoffs from home. And like the Giants, they still lost. New England will deservedly go into February 3rd as a heavy favorite.


QUICK HITS

Whoever designed that graphic that was supposed to be Gillette Stadium on the Patriots field Sunday should be fired. That was maybe the stupidest thing I've ever seen on an NFL field.

I'll go ahead and say that Brett Favre picked the single worst time ever in the history of his career to make a bad throw in overtime of Sunday's game. A football game is never won or lost on one play, but boy, that pick probably stung more than any of the 288 he's thrown in his career.

Was it just me, or was Terry Bradshaw out of control during the whole FOX Sports broadcast of the NFC title game. I know these guys have redefined the art of forced laughter, but the man appeared to be on ecstasy all day. Maybe it was how he was dealing with the cold, I don't know.

Speaking of the cold, I don't think I could be any happier that the games were played in such cold and miserable conditions. The cold, rain, and snow add such a compelling and memorable element to the game. Others disagree, wanting every game in a dome with perfect conditions. But that's not football the way it was meant to be. The way you could see every breath from the Giants and Packers players, it added an artistic beauty to the savage game that cannot be put into words. To put it plainly, games in the cold are just plain fun to watch.

And one last bit on the cold, God Bless Packers Bikini Girls who braved the 0 degree weather at Lambeau Field. That is what fan dedication is all about.





IT AIN'T YOUR BODY, SO BACK OFF

I really don't know what to make of the whole LaDainian Tomlinson injury situation. His sitting out of the game was so stunning to me that I thought something major had happened to him in the game. Today, we are learning it was a sprained MCL. While I feel that as a media member I should rightly shut my mouth because 1) I never played in the NFL and 2) I don't have the right to tell anyone what to do with their body, concerns have arisen. Chief among the vocal critics was former All-World corner Deion Sanders, who from the NFL Network booth stated that Tomlinson should be so hurt he needed surgery for "him to get a pass on this one." When a man like Deion Sanders makes that comment, it is important that people listen. With the information we know now though, I am going to go ahead a defend Tomlinson's and the Chargers staffs decision to hold him back. This isn't the old days folks when the so-called "men's men" would play with broken bones and separated shoulders. For a running back like Tomlinson, a sprained MCL means a loss of speed, cutting, burst, and balance. When you are in that position, the loss of those vital components of your game could get you seriously hurt if you continued playing. Imagine a Tomlinson attempting to cut back in traffic with only a fraction of his mobility, sitting like a wounded animal as Junior Seau comes charging in at full speed, putting Tomlinson on the shelf for good. It may be a stretch of a situation, but it is one that had to have been running through Tomlinson's mind. He did not feel that he would be a 100%, and he knew that would be detrimental to not only him, but the team as well. And above all else, I do say that it is his body and he should do with it as he pleases. And before everyone goes crazy saying "but that's what he gets paid for," I say grow up. We are talking about a man's health and well-being. If he sincerely felt he would have put his career and health at risk if he returned, then I have no problem with Tomlinson making an adult decision.

WHO IS THIS GUY AND WHAT DID HE DO WITH ELI MANNING

Whatever has happened to Giants quarterback Eli Manning is nothing short of a gift from the heavens. For the first three years and half years of his career, Manning could be best characterized by a constant underachiever. Sure, he had games of great flashes of the brilliance the Giants had been hoping for, but it was too inconsistent to really matter. Come playoff time, and Eli Manning has been the not only a great game manager, but a playmaker. During the NFL regular season, when it again looked like the Giants would endure yet another 2nd half of the season collapse, Eli was playing as poorly as he'd ever done. But something happened during the Giants lose to New England to end the regular season. Against one the NFL's best defenses, Manning went score for score with Tom Brady for the game, tossing 4 touchdowns en route to a season ending loss. Since then, Manning has been exemplary. While he always had a nice touch on his deep ball, it seems as if his accuracy jump ahead with 2 seasons worth of progress in a matter of weeks. At no time before this in his career has he looked more comfortable in the pocket and been on a better page with his receivers. To make sure credit is spread as it should be, credit for the Green Bay game must also go to Plaxico Burress, who hauled in 11 catches for 154 yards on the day. But Burress had been all but absent the two weeks prior to that game, and Manning had effectively used the other weapons around him better than he ever has. If this is the time everything is going to finally click for Eli, well, he certainly has a knack for picking the right place. While there chances remain slim against the juggernaut they face next week, Giants fans finally have something to cheer about. While others may not know this, Eli has been vilified by Giants fans for years now, which are just not sure what to make of him. Giants fans are of course praying that Eli's playoff performance this season will become the norm and not an anomaly.




LITTLE BIG MEN

If there is one thing that I will go absolutely insane over this upcoming draft season it is when people say a running back is "just too small." I believe that the evidence over the last 20 years greatly speaks to the contrary when it regards small players. Since the great Jim Brown, there has been a certain segment in the football community who believes that a running back must fits this mold of big, strong, fast player, a guy who looks like a Greek god. And while many great backs have fit that mold (OJ Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Eddie George, Adrian Peterson) so many have not. This thought process got started when I heard someone mention that Chargers running back Darren Sproles could never be a featured back. Standing 5'6" and weighing a lenient 180 pounds, Sproles had one of the Chargers few offensive highlights on Sunday with his 26 yard burst, but had only 2 other carries the rest of the game and the Chargers offense struggled. The main point was that Sproles may be small, but he was the most effective rusher they had that day. But let's just forget Sproles, he was only a catylst for the argument. Let's look at other guys who were deemed too small. I guess we can begin with the 5'8", 210 pound Florida running back who really wasn't that fast but had good cutback moves. Oh yeah, he is also the NFL's all-time leading rusher in Emmitt Smith. Smith holds all of the important records for a running back, and did it without looking like an Adonis. And what about that other guy, yeah, that Barry Sanders. Going 5'7.5", Sanders was undoubtedly the one of the greatest and most entertaining running backs ever to play the game. This was one guy who size never mattered. Picked third overall in 1989, Sanders dazzled everyone for 10 seasons before his premature retirement after the 1998 campaign. The league has a plethora of great tailbacks who don't fall into that old, prototypical, Jim Brown runner. Marshall Faulk, Warrick Dunn, Brian Westbrook, all players well under the 6 foot mark, heck some even under the 5'9" mark, and still among the elite players in the league. So the next time someone starts trying to say that a back is too small, just point to the rather large body of evidence that would suggest that size is not what makes a tailback.



Until next week. Enjoy the week off before the big show. I have my own break down and preview for the game. Also, I would love if everyone would shout out their favorite Super Bowl memories. Whether is be a party, the commercials, or the game, let us know. After Christmas and New Year, it really is one of America's biggest holiday.